


Kissing, Confessing

by oorsprong



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, True Grit (2010)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Kylux Adjacent Ship, M/M, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Short & Sweet, Western, disaster cowboys, kylux adjacent, snickers cowboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 01:49:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18650467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oorsprong/pseuds/oorsprong
Summary: Moon and Gage settle in for the night at an inn and talk about the past.





	Kissing, Confessing

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the 'memory of the past' prompt.

The Little River Hotel was as good a place as any to bed down for the night.  They were given a warm welcome by the proprietress; an old woman with an ear horn who loudly extolled the virtues of their clawfoot tub-- “the only one in town!”-- and showed them to a room where two narrow beds with iron frames took up most of the available space. 

 

Moon took the first bath in the fancy tub while the water was hot and Gage helped him wash his long hair.  Both were used to a cold, rough scrubbing in a river but he insisted on Moon getting the hottest water to ease his leg pain when such a luxury could be had.  Afterwards he enjoyed a long soak until Moon ordered him out before he “caught his death” in the lukewarm water.

 

They shared the last of the biscuits while sitting side by side on one of the creaky beds.  Moon leaned in to brush a stray crumb from Gage’s mustache and laughingly dodged a kiss that landed on his cheek anyway.

 

“Gonna be cold tonight.”

 

“Don’t matter, I’ll keep you warm.”

 

“We both won’t fit in this bed.”

 

Gage pulled one of the ragged quilts around his shoulders and invited Moon into its shelter.

 

“So sit and let’s keep company a little.”

 

To his delight Moon sidled up with a look that invited a kiss, this one captured and held while Gage tugged the quilt around them.  

 

“Where’d you learn to kiss like that,” Gage’s voice had gone all husky and it would have embarrassed him had Moon not fixed him with a such a longing look.  After a moment his gaze drifted off like an unhappy thought had clouded his mind

 

“You weren’t my first,” Moon said, sounding wistful but also a little angry.

 

“You can tell me about him.  If you want.” Gage wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it bundled up on a chilly night with his sweetheart.  He had other plans in mind for them. But Moon looked so forlorn that he couldn’t help himself.

 

“It was before I was cached up with Quincy. The one who took my fingers.”  He took a deep breath and Gage rubbed his fingers over the knuckles on his bad hand, very much glad the man who had maimed him was dead.  

 

“I know, Huckleberry.”

 

“What you don’t know is that George and I were real close from childhood.  He was a brother to me. I reckon we’d have stayed close if we hadn’t been so curious about one another.  But by the time he was twenty he was eager to preach the gospel and leave his sinful ways behind. I figured we weren’t hurtin’ nobody but he couldn’t wait to see the back of me.  And the outlaw life sure appealed after that.

 

Gage touched his cheek.  “My own momma said ‘don’t bother what ain’t bothering you’. Seems to me a lot of folk could learn a thing or two from that.”

 

“But it did bother him an awful lot.  I never hurt him. We only kissed behind the barn on a few warm nights.  He sure did hurt me when he runned off to be a circuit rider. Even his own pa was mystified by his eagerness to leave home.”

 

Moon swallowed hard and Gage pulled him so close that not even the air could come between them.  The muffled sobs against his shirt tore up his heart. Gage could only stroke his hair and murmur sweetly against the crown of his head.  

 

“I’ll take care of you now, _Cariño_ ,” he promised.  

 

“Mm… Azarado…”  Moon pulled back to look him in the eye.  His own were red-rimmed in his blotchy face.  The sniffling twitch of his nose made Gage want to scoop him up and bear him away from any trouble that might try to follow.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I’m only telling you so because, well, I thought I loved him.  In that way, you know? Like my poor Pa, God-rest-him, loved my Ma.  But now i know better.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

Gage feared to ask it but he knew he’d receive an answer either way.  He just didn’t want Moon dredging up those old memories and telling himself they were untrue.  A man had to face what life brought him with honesty and clarity. Even a clumsy ass like himself knew that.

 

“Well I suppose I had nothing to compare those kisses to.  Until you came along and showed me better.”

 

Gage felt himself redden a little. “Well, I suppose we two have had more practice--”

 

“Hush, you fool.  It’s because I love you.  That’s how I know what’s what.  Because I’m in love with you, Azarado Gage, and what’s come before can only pale in comparison.”

 

“‘That so?” he stammered.

 

“Matter of fact it is.”

 

He wished he could think of something flowery or pretty to say but his lips craved a satisfaction that words wouldn't bring. And Moon had always seemed to like that best of all.  Gage extinguished the lamp and when they found one another in the dark again they kept their silence, letting wandering hands have their fill.

 

“Gage?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Will you push the beds together?”

 

A branding iron to his backside couldn’t have moved him faster.  The jarring screech of metal across the floor made him wince but it was worth it to tuck into bed under both quilts, Moon’s breath hot against his ear and his good hand caught in his hair.

 

“Eager for a little horizontal refreshment?” he murmured before pressing a kiss to his jaw and tickling the underside with his mustache.

 

With Moon’s sweet sigh of encouragement to drive him on, he stole another kiss  The velvet press of a tongue between his lips sent a hot lick of lightning right down to his toes.

 

“Azarado,” Moon whispered after a moment, “There’s other places I liked to be kissed too.”

 

Cheeks aflame he hid a heavy exhale against Moon’s shoulder.

 

“Just as you like, Honey. It’s my pleasure to kiss you wherever you’ll have me.”

 

As it turned out, Moon would have him quite a few places indeed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Disaster Cowboys is a ship name coined by [@PerpetuallyC](https://twitter.com/PerpetuallyC) and I thank her forever for bringing these two poor souls together.


End file.
